*Official* BBQ N' Smoker thread

[KIMMER]

Completely agree on the electric and lack of smoke ring brandon, it gets one, but it's laughable at best. Buy Royal Oak lump charcoal and your favorite chunks or chips of wood and get ready to use up a whole day. I typically get mine started about 4-5am so it will be ready by 5 or 6 pm.

 

[Bullitt1809]

i don't know anything about smoking, where is a good place to start learning? whats smoke ring too?

 

[KIMMER]

Look around at some BBQ forums, they are the best places for tips and tricks to smoking and modding smokers. The "smoke ring" is a reddish color ring in the meat when you slice it that is caused by the smoke and carries the smoke flavor into the meat. The longer you cook it with smoke going, the thicker the smoke ring (smokier flavor). Usually it only really absorbs the smoke the first few hours (from what i've read), so I only go heavy on the smoke for the first hour, then some smoke hour number two. I still have some smoke throughout the process, but that first hour is when that thing looks like a smoke stack. I like peach/cherry for pork, maple for fish, mesquite/cherry for beef. It's all personal preference for the most part. There are good books too, like Myron Mixon's Smokin' with Myron Mixon, or the barbecue bible and wicked good barbecue. LOTS of good info in those books and will give you good starter knowledge. To get good at it, it just takes time and a lot of practice on the BBQ.....horrible thing to have to practice at! LOL

 

[Herknav]

I have an electric one too, but pretty much ONLY use it for jerky and fish. My grandpa would kick my ass if he knew I was doing my fish in it. He is old school and ran a smoked fish shop for 30 years in the U.P. and did it the right way, wood fire only! I will at some point end up with a competition trailer to do some pork. It really does become an addiction after a while. I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive to make my pulled pork sandwiches. Once you pay for the meat, slaw ingredients, spices, and bbq sauce ingredients, it adds up....not to mention beer!

I want to get a wood smoker myself... I just can't have one where I am.

But I would say the only reason folks didn't use electric back in the day was because it wasn't really around then. It is consistent and predictable. Plus I imagine it is easier to learn. I've done pretty good for someone who didn't know shit about smoking.

I really want to move. The house I live in now is the house my wife bought when she was a Lieutenant. Even she acknowledges it is too small and not a good fit for us. I just have to get her to get on board with either changing cities or at least changing jobs. I hate waiting. Maybe then though we can get a pool... and a bigger garage... and a bigger kitchen (I fucking HATE cooking in my kitchen now) and a stand up shower that doesn't make me feel like I am in a Motel 6...

 

[KIMMER]

Good luck on getting her to move! I hate my kitchen too. Wish I would have went bigger on the kitchen but too late now.

 

[Bullitt1809]

Where do you get the wood, do you buy it or cut it yourself? I can go and cut cherry, oak, hickory, for myself. The wood you smoke with, is it dry or still a little green?

 

[KIMMER]

Typically just buy it at gander mountain, walmart or cabelas. Pretty much everywhere has it now, but if I had some fresh cut, let it season (dry for at least a year or so), I would use that. I've often wondered about throwing a piece of green wood on because I think it would smoke more and have more flavor due to the sap, but that I don't know for sure. Good question to search.

 

[Herknav]

i don't know anything about smoking, where is a good place to start learning? whats smoke ring too?

You are now where I was about 3 weeks ago... I was clueless. I did some research (lots of Google time on the internet machine), then I did more research.

I picked up my smoker and smoked some chicken wings. They came out good (had to use my fryer to crisp the skin; a smoker won't do that).

Then I smoked pork tenderloin (google again), which turned out pretty good (my wife didn't like the pink, though I tried to tell her it was normal and yes it was cooked).

Then I smoked some ribs (way overcooked, next on my list to try again)

Then I smoked an 8 pound Boston butt which turned out great. I love pulled pork.

I will probably pick up some ribs this week and go again (practice practice practice, plus I love giving the bones to my pups) and another butt this weekend for smoking...it will get served a week from Friday for my live FFL draft.

Next on my list now is learning how to make a good BBQ sauce...

 

[Herknav]

Where do you get the wood, do you buy it or cut it yourself? I can go and cut cherry, oak, hickory, for myself. The wood you smoke with, is it dry or still a little green?

That reminds me of another electric advantage... they use a lot less wood. I picked my wood chips up at Home Depot. My wife then informed me they were half that price at the BX. Good thing I have that retiree ID card eh?

 

[KIMMER]

Finding recipes and then experimenting to make them your own is the hardest part. I've honestly worked for about 2 years to get my pulled pork sandwiches to where I think they are about perfect. That's homemade slaw, homemade bbq sauce, mop sauce and rub. It's worth it in the long run. Anyone that says their recipe is 100% their own invention, is full of shit. This much I have learned...LOL Everyone looks at other recipes for a place to start and then works to turn it into something to call their own. Now that I think I have my pulled pork perfect, i'm gonna start working on ribs and brisket.

 

[KIMMER]

I know Herk said he did a brine on his pork butt, but I normally rinse my pork lightly, then a few shots of the mop sauce injected and then a HEAVY coating of rub on it and then vacuum seal it for at least 24 hours. I also make my mop sauce a day before that. My BBQ sauce and slaw sauce I make the night before I smoke the pork. Also let the meat sit out and get to room temp before smoking it, otherwise it will mess with your cook time and temps.

 

[Bullitt1809]

kimmer do you dry rub or wet?

 

[KIMMER]

Injection, then heavy dry rub. While i'm smoking the pork, I will open the smoker and Mop the meat every 30 mins. I let people put their own bbq sauce on at the end because it has some spice to it and everyone likes a different amount.

 

[Herknav]

I know Herk said he did a brine on his pork butt, but I normally rinse my pork lightly, then a few shots of the mop sauce injected and then a HEAVY coating of rub on it and then vacuum seal it for at least 24 hours. I also make my mop sauce a day before that. My BBQ sauce and slaw sauce I make the night before I smoke the pork. Also let the meat sit out and get to room temp before smoking it, otherwise it will mess with your cook time and temps.

I let the meat come to room temp as well, (the internet has all sorts of common sense!). I did not mop my butt, but I might just do that this next time using the spray bottle. I do not have a vacuum sealer. The brine I used was 1 cup salt, 1 cup brown sugar and 8 cups water to ensure the meat was completely covered. I intended a full 24 hours but I had to start smoking early for timing.

I did a beer-butter injection when I smoked the tenderloin.

 

[retfr8flyr]

When I do boneless pork shoulder, for pulled pork. I use a dry rub and don't use injection. I usually smoke 3 shoulders at a time. I let them sit in the fridge, with the rub on wrapped in plastic, for only about 4 hrs. Then they go on the smoker at 225 degrees. I use Royal Oak lump charcoal and I like to use Hickory chunks for the smoke. I build the fire to let it heavily smoke for the first 1-1 1/2 hrs, then cut the smoke back to just a little coming from the vent. I let them cook until they get to 160 degrees internal temp. I then pull them off and wrap them in foil and put them back on. I then let them cook to 190 degrees, pull em off, wrap em in towels and into the cooler they go for at least 2 hours.

I don't mop them or inject them during the cooking, I try not to raise the lid at all, to keep an even temp. l just make a sauce to add after they are unwrapped. I have had great success with this procedure. They come out with a great smoke ring and a nice bark, with plenty of natural juice.


Earl

 

[s8v4o]

i don't know anything about smoking, where is a good place to start learning? whats smoke ring too?

Here are some good places to start.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/

Where do you get the wood, do you buy it or cut it yourself? I can go and cut cherry, oak, hickory, for myself. The wood you smoke with, is it dry or still a little green?

By all means cut the wood yourself. You will save a ton on money that way. Most places charge anywhere from 10-15 bucks for a medium/small sized bag of wood and it goes quickly. When I start to get low I cruise craigslist for people with downed trees who just want the debris gone. I have LOTS of hickory, pecan, and oak from doing this. I have about two chords of wood now that's 1.5 years old. It helps that I have a dump trailer and chainsaw but you can manage with something smaller like a truck. You can even make your own lump charcoal in large batches when all your wood is free

You HAVE to let the wood dry/cure. If you don't you'll release all kinds of nasties into your food and it will taste like creosote. As the wood cures it naturally releases these unwanted things. I got a cheap moisture meter from harbor freight for like 10 bucks. If I want to know if a batch of wood is done I cut it with my sawzall and check the moisture of the middle of the wood. You're looking for no more than around 20% moisture. It usually takes at least 1 year depending on the type of wood to get the moisture down that low. Smoking foods is very delicious and lots of fun!

 

[Timmbo]

On the Traeger the other night....honey lemon pepper Bud beer butt chicken with some Daves Insanity poored down hatch then capped off with a home grown tomato. One of my most moist chickens yet! I love my Lil Tex Traeger pellet smoker. I've had it for about 5 years now. Best investment I ever made. I love smoking salmon on cedar planks, smoking ribs, tenderloin etc. I have yet to really screw anything up. Me in the kitchen....well thats a different story lol.

 

[s8v4o]

I've been looking at getting one of those, be sure to give us a report on how you like it.


Earl

A full CYBERQ WIFI report will be coming but I will say this as I've had a chance to experiment and use it on some ribs. I've been reading lots of information about these types of devices for smoking with charcoal and ALL WOOD. Because charcoal gets to be expensive and I have pretty much an free unlimited supply of pecan and hickory wood I tested the unit with an all wood smoke.

Earl, will you be using wood, charcoal, or mostly charcoal with a little bit of wood for smoke? All charcoal and mostly charcoal with some wood is VERY EASY, set it and forget it!!. You can load up your firebox to the gills with charcoal and everything will be perfect with the cyberq for a long time until you run out of fuel. All wood smoking is a different story all together.

For an all wood smoke with this device (or even without it) you need to start your fire with a bunch of logs and get a roaring fire. Let the logs burn until you there's mostly coal embers left in the firebox. The initial size of the fire depends on the size of your smoker AND the temperature you're trying to maintain. One little trick I figured out is after lighting an all wood fire, plug in the cyberq and set the smoker temp to 450 but leave the smoker box open. This will force feed the fire and break down those logs much faster than just letting the fire do it on it's own. Once you have mostly embers then just toss a log in one at a time every hour or hour and a half.

I experimented with it before actually cooking meat by loading LOTS of wood in the fireboox and letting the cyberq do its thing. It worked fine for controlling the temperature but choking and all wood fire resulted in BAD smoke with lots of creosote and other nasties! With an all wood smoke your fire needs to be sized so that the device isn't always choking. It works best at maintaining.

This is not a problem with charcoal. You can choke a charcoal burn down to a simmer without creating creosote because all the nasty stuff has already been release in the making of the charcoal. If using all wood just remember to let it burn mostly down and size the fire peoperly then just add a log every so often to maintain fuel/smoke. All I have to say is the cyberq WORKED GREAT. Another thing I will add is their recommendations for fan sizing is all wrong. According to them based on my firebox box size they recommend (2) 25CFM fans. Well since it just maintains I find that my fans output averages maybe 5-10%. I could have saved a lot of money and only got one fan.

All in all it's a great little device. Setup can be a little daunting if you're not computer literate but I had everything up and running in 10-15 minutes. If you have any problems Earl PM me and I will help you!

 

[Herknav]

Maybe then though we can get a pool... and a bigger garage... and a bigger kitchen (I fucking HATE cooking in my kitchen now) and a stand up shower that doesn't make me feel like I am in a Motel 6...

Good luck on getting her to move! I hate my kitchen too. Wish I would have went bigger on the kitchen but too late now.

10 months later... we close in less than 3 weeks on a house with a pool... a three-car garage... a bigger kitchen.... and a separate tiled shower, woohoo!

Put a butt on an hour ago. I completely changed up what I usually do. I injected it and rubbed it. I'm also smoking at a higher temp (250 vs 210). When I hit 160, I plan to transfer to an aluminum pan and then wrapping it till I get to 195 or so, then she rests for at least 30 minutes. I have a spray bottle filled with apple cider vinegar and juice mixture to spray, (in fact, I need to go do that now). I am smoking with Jack Daniels barrel wood.

Previously I would brine for a day then rub and put in at 210. I was using apple wood and spraying every 30 minutes. Also, I was soaking my wood chips.

Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

[retfr8flyr]

I forgot about this thread. I did get the CYBERQ WIFI and it's great, makes long smokes very easy now. I use lump charcoal and then whatever wood I want to add for smoke flavor. I have smoked a lot of things Pork Butt, Ribs, Chicken, Turkey and Prim Rib but I never tried a Brisket. I just did my first Brisket Thursday and it came out very nice. I didn't do a full packer just a 7 lb flat. I wanted to try Texas version, instead of the more conventional BBQ style.

I just used Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Cumin and a little Chili powder in the rub. Cooked it on 225, with Cherry and Hickory wood for smoke, for about 12 hrs, internal meat temp was 195. Pulled it off wrapped it in foil, then in towels and stuck it in the cooler. I made a good Texas sopping sauce to serve with it. Left it in the cooler for 1 hour to rest and let the juices come out. Sliced and served, man was it good. Had it Thursday and again tonight for dinner. Wish I had taken some pics but I was having so much fun I forgot.

Now that I have done one, next time I will get a full packer and try making some burnt ends to go with the Brisket.